Kramnik-Caruana Round 4 0-1 2018 Candidates Berlin annotated

http://kramnik-caruana 2018 annotated here

Petroff Tactics II ( Advanced Level)

White just played 24 g3 to cover against the attack on f2. What's the verdict ?

Black to play

Who said that the Petroff always lead to dull positions ?

Tactics&traps in the Petroff Defense

This post is about tactical themes in the Petroff Defense :

1e4 e5 2Nf3 Nf6 3 Ne5 d6 4 Nf3 Ne4 5d4 d5 6 Bd3 Be7 70-0 Bg4 8 Re1 Nc6 9Nbd2 f5 10 c3 0-0 11 Qb3 variation.

11..Na5 12Qa4 12..Nc6 13 Bb5 Nd2 14 Nd2 Qd6 15 h3 Bh5 16 Nb3 Bh4 17 Nc5 Rae8

Here we reach the position after 18 Bd2

Black to play after 18 Bd2

Black can play 18..Bf3!?, which is a thematic and recurrent move in the Petroff Defense (Analysis position here-This may qualify as an opening novelty, although I don't have any recent database). The aim here is to show chess patterns and motifs , and not listing the existing games in a given opening.

Position after 18..Bf3!? White to play

Here's an hint (Read below after studying the diagram!)

Would you play

A) 19 gxf3

B) 19Nxb7

C)19Bf1

Tactics straight from the (Petroff) opening lab.

Good luck!

Amber 2009 opening ideas

Interesting opening ideas in Amber 2009


Rapid tournament:

Aronian-Leko (2) West-Indian
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nf3 b6 4. g3 Ba6 5. Qc2 Bb7 6. Bg2 c5 7. d5 !?
Also played in Topalov-Anand Bilbao 2008 and Nielsen-Heinemann 2008.

Carlsen-Ivanchuk (2) E32 Nimzo Qc2
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 Nc6 5. Nf3 d6 6. Bd2 a5 !?

Leko-Morozevich (7) Caro-Kan
1. e4 c6 2. d4 d5 3. Nc3 dxe4 4. Nxe4 Nd7 5. Ng5 Ngf6 6. Bd3 e5 !?

Kramnik-Anand (8) E32 Nimzo Qc2
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 e6 3. Nc3 Bb4 4. Qc2 O-O 5. a3 Bxc3+ 6. Qxc3 d5 !? 7. cxd5 Ne4 !?
Other moves for White would be 7.Bg5 or 7.Nf3 where Black can try 7..dc4 8 Qc4 b6 !? with idea ..Ba6 just like in Morozevich-Topalov (blindfold round 4)

Blind Tournament:

Kramnik-Morozevich (1) Gruenfeld
1. d4 Nf6 2. c4 g6 3. Nc3 d5 4. Bf4 Bg7 5. e3 c5 6. dxc5 Qa5 7. Rc1 dxc4 8.Bxc4 O-O 9. Nf3 Qxc5 10. Bb3 Nc6 11. O-O Qa5 12. h3 Bf5 13. Ng5 !?

Morozevich-Wang (2) Petroff
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. Nxe5 d6 4. Nf3 Nxe4 5. d4 d5 6. Bd3 Nc6 7. O-O Be78. Re1 Bg4 9. c3 f5 10. Qb3 O-O 11. Nbd2 Na5 12. Qc2 Nc6 13. b4 !?

Leko-Kamsky (5) Double fianchetto-Hedgehog for Black.
1. e4 g6 2. d4 Bg7 3. Nf3 b6 !? 4. Bd3 Bb7 5. O-O d6 6. c3 e6 !? 7. Re1 Ne7 8.Nbd2 Nd7 9. Nf1 a6

Anand-Radjabov (6) Sicilian Rossolimo
1. e4 c5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bb5 g6 4. Bxc6 dxc6 5. d3 Bg7 6. h3 b6 7. O-O e5 8.a3 !?

Anand-Kramnik (8) Petroff
1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nf6 3. d4 Nxe4 4. Bd3 d5 5. Nxe5 !? Nd7 6. Nxd7 Bxd7 7. O-OBd6 8. c4 c6 9. cxd5 cxd5 10. Nc3 Nxc3 11. bxc3 O-O 12. Qh5 !?
Also 5 de5 is a valid alternative in the Petroff